My ranger has 179k on it..it had a new clutch and transmission about 60k
ago. It has the 3.0 with the Mazda built trans. It's been making a
constant squeaking that speeds up and slows down with engine RPM. I
mistook it at first for a bad pulley, but then realized the sound was
coming from the back of the engine, closest to the cab, not the front. The
noise is constant..it's always there, regardless of clutch position, gear,
hot/cold, vehicle speed etc.. The only variables are that it does get
louder and softer (no pattern to it whatsoever) and it does change tone
slightly when moving the shifter from side to side in neutral. It was
diagnosed by one garage as a pilot bearing issue, but it was my
understanding that a pilot bearing isn't moving with the clutch disengaged
(or the other way around?). So if it makes the noise regardless of clutch
position, I would suspect this isn't the problem. Any ideas? Thanks!!!

With your foot off the clutch, the pilot bearing is only along for the ride
(other than keeping the nose of the input shaft in line with the input and
pocket bearings in the trans). Avoid one garage like the plague. My first
suspicion would be release bearing but one would expect the sound to change
as we step on the clutch (bearing in mind that nothing is written in stone).
Having the sound change as the shifter is rocked side to side is
interesting.... possibly something with the plastic guides on the shift
forks but one would expect other signs as well.

Best bet is to do some stethoscope diagnostics to localize the noise and
work from there.

"KgbeezR1" <kgbeezr1@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:a919090fed3f8965d3b3eead9c844d77@localhost.talkaboutautos.com...
> My ranger has 179k on it..it had a new clutch and transmission about 60k
> ago. It has the 3.0 with the Mazda built trans. It's been making a
> constant squeaking that speeds up and slows down with engine RPM. I
> mistook it at first for a bad pulley, but then realized the sound was
> coming from the back of the engine, closest to the cab, not the front. The
> noise is constant..it's always there, regardless of clutch position, gear,
> hot/cold, vehicle speed etc.. The only variables are that it does get
> louder and softer (no pattern to it whatsoever) and it does change tone
> slightly when moving the shifter from side to side in neutral. It was
> diagnosed by one garage as a pilot bearing issue, but it was my
> understanding that a pilot bearing isn't moving with the clutch disengaged
> (or the other way around?). So if it makes the noise regardless of clutch
> position, I would suspect this isn't the problem. Any ideas? Thanks!!!
>

"Jim Warman" <mechanic@tenalpsulet.net> wrote in
news:9DJye.132609$on1.44938@clgrps13:
> With your foot off the clutch, the pilot bearing is only along for the
> ride (other than keeping the nose of the input shaft in line with the
> input and pocket bearings in the trans). Avoid one garage like the
> plague. My first suspicion would be release bearing but one would
> expect the sound to change as we step on the clutch (bearing in mind
> that nothing is written in stone). Having the sound change as the
> shifter is rocked side to side is interesting.... possibly something
> with the plastic guides on the shift forks but one would expect other
> signs as well.
>
> Best bet is to do some stethoscope diagnostics to localize the noise
> and work from there.
>
>
> "KgbeezR1" <kgbeezr1@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:a919090fed3f8965d3b3eead9c844d77@localhost.talkaboutautos.com...
>> [...]
>

If it's the same noise my 1991 Ranger with the same engine/tranny
combination, you had better get used to that noise. I bought my truck used
3 years ago and in the first year, the transmission had to be rebuilt
because of the known issue of the leaking fluid. It had never been checked
and the fluid was so low, the output shaft snapped on me while cruising down
the highway. When the work was done, everything in the transmission was
rebuilt, new gaskets, seals, the only thing I did not replace was the
clutch, pressure plate or release bearing because they were still in good
condition.

Thinking this noise would be gone when I picked the truck up, much to my
suprise it was still there. The person who had rebuilt the transmission was
a retired Ford mechanic who rebuilt transmissions at the dealership he
worked at. When I called him and asked him about it, he told me that noise
was one of the Mazda transmissions "traits". In the 500 or so he had
rebuilt, he said almost all of them made the same noise. My truck, BTW has
almost 230,000 kms on it now, about 185,000 when the tranny was rebuilt.

It is annoying, but if I were you, I'd be more worried about getting those
plugs sealed up so you don't have to worry about your fluid going low. The
rebuild was around $1000 for me, but I priced around and it can be much more
expensive.

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